Answers, not frustration, needed from Brogan board

Looking through a photo gallery from a meeting of the board of directors of the Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science, you can see the frustration on the faces of members.

I know that look. I know that feeling.

Years ago, soon after I moved to Tallahassee, I sat in that room around that table, and saw and felt the same frustrations as a member of that board. The issues then were as they are now: money.

I left the board for that reason. Looking back, it was a bad decision. But as a board member, you are willing to give up your time with your family and friends to do good, if you can truly contribute to the community. You don’t want to sit around worrying about how to pay the bills – that can be done at home.

By a single vote, 9-8, the board voted Monday against closing permanently, trying instead – as chair Felicia Nowels says in this video – to see if staying open is an option, at least one more try.

In a Tallahassee Democrat-Tallahassee.com survey, albeit unscientific and just a compilation of the opinions of those who self-selected to take the survey, overwhelmingly the public said it wants the museum to stay open.

Many remember it for its educational value to schoolchildren. They have been there with their kids and seen firsthand the value it offers. They want the board, with the help of the city and county governments and private donors, to figure out the finances.

The survey was conducted over four days – two of them on a weekend. Some 616 people responded after the survey went viral, at least locally. Almost all the responses were from the Big Bend, but links were being shared on social media and emailed by competing viewpoints.

Hundreds took the time to comment, and most comments were very thoughtful.

The problem seems to be that the board got ahead of the public. It is a quality-of-life issue for members of the public, and the option of simply shutting down without a clearly enunciated plan for what happens next was – and remains – an unacceptable option.

The public, which is obviously not as close to the financial issues that have faced the Brogan for a long time, was not brought along. Citizens don’t know everything the board knows, and don’t seem to care. They just know that the type of programs the Brogan has offered have merit – and, frankly, lots of it.

And while the money required is a great big stack of green, given the kind of things they perceive government spending money on, well, let me go back to this: The public – at least those responding to our survey – sees the value of the programs and opportunities the Brogan offers our children.

The board, on the other hand, sees the great big stack of bills and no clear path to paying them, regularly and in a sustainable way. Members have been living with that for years and are ready to move on.

Therein lies their frustration.

The board is simply out ahead of the public on this and might easily be able to bring the rest of us along if they told us what comes next, except our vision of a big, beautiful empty building sitting downtown a stone’s throw from the Capitol Building.

Therein lies our frustration.

So what would happen next? Is it something just as good for the schoolchildren or just another empty and closed building, as the Brogan has been while the board tries to figure out how to pay the bills?

Certainly the frustration is understandable on all sides, but that simply won’t get it done.

You can send comments by clicking on Bob Gabordi’s blog on Tallahassee.com, e-mailing him at bgabordi@tallahassee.com, sending a private message on Tallahassee.com and Twitter @bgabordi. You can also find links to his blogs on Facebook. He’s also on LinkedIn and Google+. His mailing address is Bob Gabordi, Executive Editor, Tallahassee Democrat, P.O. Box 990, Tallahassee, FL 32302. His telephone number is 850-599-2177.

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You can send comments by clicking on Bob Gabordi’s blog on Tallahassee.com or Move.Tallahassee.com, e-mailing him at bgabordi@tallahassee.com, sending a private message on Tallahassee.com and Twitter @bgabordi. You can also find links to his blogs on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. His mailing address is Bob Gabordi, Executive Editor, Tallahassee Democrat, P.O. Box 990, Tallahassee, FL 32302. His telephone number is 850-599-2177.